In 2004, when Michael Crichton published State of Fear, the theory of man-made Global Warming was at its peak of public and scientific acceptance. There was essentially no opposition in media to the concept, and Crichton's book was widely viewed as sensationalistic and deliberately contrarian.

Crichton's main point in the book is that the Earth's environment is extraordinarily vast and complex, and basing public policy decisions on computer models could not result in scientifically accurate conclusions; therefore, Global Warming cannot be shown scientifically and so is not a major concern. He cited studies arguing against the accepted science of man-made Global Warming. While Crichton states clearly in the afterword that nobody, including himself, can make any sort of accurate prediction on the state of the climate, he also stated that human activity needs to be based in common sense rather than disregard. Interestingly, Crichton's argument that local warming does not necessarily correlate with global warming has been adopted by science and media to explain how localized discrepancies do not disprove the theory.

In recent years, the term "Global Warming" has fallen out of favor, replaced with "Global Climate Change" so as not to confine the science to a specific change. This is seen by some as proof that the science is not settled, and by others as acceptance of a wider range of climate problems.